Scene Last Night: Lagarde for Prince George; Hamptons Art

July 26 (Bloomberg) -- Christine Lagarde, managing director
of the International Monetary Fund, was in Washington, D.C. last
night celebrating the birth of George Alexander Louis of
Cambridge.

British Ambassador Peter Westmacott, host of the reception,
joked it was pegged to the release of the British economy’s
growth figures. He then gave a champagne toast welcoming the
first son of Prince William and the former Kate Middleton.

Lagarde chatted with guests who included former Federal
Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, Senator Roy Blunt, Missouri
Republican, White House senior adviser Valerie Jarrett and
Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, who’s stepping
down in September. They were served Yorkshire pudding and
British cheeses on the terrace of the ambassador’s residence.

Inside was a cake bearing the baby prince’s title. Nearby,
was a photo collage of the royal family with a picture of the
Duke of Cambridge and his mother, the late Diana, Princess of
Wales.

Goldman Liquidation

The Goldman Sachs Group Inc. logo was spotted in a painting
last night at Art Southampton, the third art fair to open on the
East End of Long Island this month.

“Liquidated Goldman Sachs,” by French artist Aghirre
“Zevs” Schwarz, features the firm’s name in yellow paint
dripping down a blue canvas. It’s priced at $14,000.

“It’s for someone in finance or for art collectors who may
have lost money in the financial crisis who just think it’s a
joke they’re pulling on themselves,” said David De Buck, the
dealer exhibiting the work. At preview’s end, it hadn’t sold,
though two others featuring the Louis Vuitton logo had.

Schwarz has “liquidated” well-known logos for years. Tech
companies get the treatment in his solo show at De Buck Gallery
opening on Sept. 12.

Art Southampton runs through Monday in a 100,000-square-foot (9,290 square meters) tent, with more than 90 exhibitors
including 21 from outside the U.S. Last night, preview visitors
included Matthew Mark of Jet Capital Investors LP, his father-in-law, Stanford Warshawsky of Bismarck Capital LLC, and Richard
Avedon’s muse China Machado.

“There’s a lot to see here,” said dealer Eli Klein, who’s
showing a bust of a Roman youth made of paper, by Li Hongbo,
priced at $24,000.

Pace Show

Pace Prints is showing John Alexander, who also has an
exhibition at Guild Hall in East Hampton. At Mike Weiss
Gallery’s stand, vivid, impressionistic paintings by Jan de
Vleigher are standouts.

“This is more accessible than Frieze,” art adviser Randy
Scott said. “There’s a lot more painting and narrative stuff.”

“It’s about quality, luxury, and lifestyle,” said Nick
Korniloff, owner of the fair, in its second year.

“We even have Jay Z’s cognac,” he said, hoisting up his
drink made with D’USSE Cognac. “When the art is in the right
context, people respond.”

New Orleans Jazz

Broadcast journalist Soledad O’Brien and her husband, Brad
Raymond, co-head of investment banking at Stifel Financial Corp,
had dinner with fashion designer Donna Karan last night at her
Urban Zen Studio in New York’s West Village.

The occasion was a fundraiser for the couple’s foundation,
which gives tuition assistance to underprivileged women.

Formerly an anchor at Cable News Network, O’Brien is now a
contributor to HBO’s “Real Sports” and Al Jazeera. She and her
husband formed the Soledad O’Brien + Brad Raymond Starfish
Foundation in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Mayfield and his
New Orleans Jazz Orchestra performed at the event.

(Stephanie Green, Amanda Gordon and Patrick Cole are
writers and photographers for Muse, the arts and leisure section
of Bloomberg News. Any opinions expressed are their own.)

Muse highlights include New York and London weekend guides
and Lewis Lapham on history.